She's Got a Plan (2016)

If you gave yourself only thirty days to make your dream come true before throwing in the towel, just how would you order your steps? That's the premise of She's Got and Plan and the 30 day journey of Isis Angelo, a female writer-director trying to 'make it' in Hollywood. When we meet Isis she is a down-on-her-luck director whose struggles with life, love and career have come to a head. The story opens with a frustrated Isis who is approaching middle age knows that her window of opportunity for Hollywood success is rapidly closing. She works regularly on random productions, making enough to pay the rent, buy lean cuisines, and keep her classic Mercedes with just enough gas in it to make it to the next pitch meeting. She's tired of the rat race, the hustle, and all of the empty shallow people that populate power positions in the industry. She is tired of looking for real love with men who don't understand her and fed up with LA traffic stuck in her car feeling sidelined by life. Isis longs for the success that attracted her to the industry but realizes she is clearly at the end of her rope. Faced with the question - When do you give up on your dreams? Isis is forced to 'make something happen' and she takes all the money she has - including the rent money - and gives herself, her life, and her career 30 days to "make it" in Hollywood. The ensuing stress, drama, and hilarity derived from this self imposed deadline, develops as we follow Isis's days on the calendar, and her confessional video diary that she creates to document her final struggle. We are taken from counseling sessions with her truly ghetto friend to hilarious two bit reality shows, seedy production houses, horny execs, and the ever alluring Hollywood night life to a relationship with a "dream Kodak" boyfriend who of course is a dud. This comedic action enhanced by appearances of many recognizable members of black Hollywood is inter cut with serious, emotional scenes of Isis reflecting on her daily life, dealing with the worries and aspirations of her mother, and attempting to remain a real human being in a business increasingly filled with fake characters. Isis gets her big break when her heartfelt break up with her "Kodak" boyfriend is caught on a camera phone, posted to the internet and goes viral. However this is not the success she wants but instead of being defeated she finally deals with fears, her struggles and takes a leap of faith and moves beyond all the drama and her own deadline. Isis' story and character allows us form an intimate bond with her, which makes it easy to root for our heroine early on, even if we can't identify with her race or gender. The emotional connection we have with the main character only makes the odd situations and characters she runs across that much funnier. This emotional, comedic film, full of archetypes and actors that the entire country is familiar with is sure to tug the heart strings, and tickle the funny bone of audiences worldwide.